The Obatala Centre for Creative Arts is situated in IRAGBIJI, a Yoruba town of 250,000 people in the south-western part of Nigeria. It is a neighboring town to OSOGBO, the capital city of Osun State. Her unique geographical position gives this ancient town a conducive environment for all artistic and cultural endeavours. Surrounded by hills and mountains, the town is widely known for two of her annual traditional religious festivals:

*** EGUNGUN FESTIVAL; An eventful 7-day festival of traditional music and dance of masquerades representing the spirits of the dead. It is the period of interaction between the living and the dead. Many colourful masqueraders parade the streets and offer prayers for the living. It is celebrated in early May.

*** ORI OKE FESTIVAL: This festival which is celebrated in July is closely associated with the cult of Osun, the goddess of fertility. New yams are harvested during this period. (See 'Iragbiji' for details)

The Obatala Centre has many rich resources for promoting the arts and culture of the Nigerian people, including:

• a museum, which has both a permanent exhibition of artworks from the region and temporary exhibitions which give new artists an opportunity to showcase their work

• an archival library, including books, photographs, posters and audiovisual documentaries of traditional performing arts

• a series of seminars and workshops, e.g. for African dance (traditional and contemporary) drum playing and making, and adire cloth and traditional dyeing processes.

We welcome you to our web site and would like to invite you to click on the links on the left side of all the web pages to learn more about our activities. If you would like more information not contained in this site, please use the contact page - we look forward to hearing from you.